


birds that sing at night

by totorojin



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, M/M, Mostly Fluff, but there is some angst at the end, disgraced prince! bang chan, half-blood stray kids, it's not entirely proofread because i'm lazy but i will proofread & edit later, not as in greek god half blood but as in half human & half mythological creature, there is some violence but those parts r cut off w - - - - so if u wanna skip over it u can!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-09-30 03:28:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17216159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/totorojin/pseuds/totorojin
Summary: disgraced prince bang chan wants freedom, and finds it in a group of travelling young half-bloods.  he knows castle walls can't be called home, but learns that stray kids can be.





	birds that sing at night

**Author's Note:**

> a prompt given to me by my friend that got way out of hand, so i wrote this in 2 weeks. enjoy.
> 
> i tried to stay true to the myths that they're derived from but there are some things i tweaked so it can fit the story! as well as add or remove some of the powers they have, so i'm sorry to any mythology nerd out there. you don't have to google any of these creatures as a link will be provided uwu
> 
> if anything didn't make sense i probably wrote it while i was drunk off sleep deprivation sooo
> 
> also yeah, the slightly violent scenes will be marked w - - -!! be safe everyone
> 
> okay, yeah, please enjoy!

"what a beautiful baby boy." his father spoke with utmost delight in his voice, looking at baby chan from the side of his mother's bed. chan's mother had the softest smile looking at her son, despite her eyes threatening to close shut.  
  
"baby christopher," a small whisper from her lips. "i can't wait to see what good you will do in this evil world."  
_  
_ _apparently, more evil than good, mom._ chan stares at the kingdom door that was just slammed shut on him. he didn't feel any sorrow though, just a smirk etched onto his face as he turned his back to the door. all he had on his person was fancy prince wear and a giant bag filled with small pieces of food, clothing, a thin blanket of his childhood and money.  
  
_whatever, this would suffice for at least a couple of days._ he was a prince anyways or at the very least used to be, so the money would be good enough to at least pay for a month's worth of food - if he chose to be wise with it, that is.  
  
ever since chan was born, kingdom walls could not satisfy him. he couldn't say he wanted more, no, he _needed_ more. needed more than cobblestone and cement, trapping him in. his parents viewed these claustrophobic walls as safety, protection from the outside world. he was a prince, wasn't he? he needed protection.  
  
foolish to think that someone else could know what chan needs.  
  
because chan, chan needs freedom. he doesn't need confinement masked as safety just because they planted a few trees and flowers here and there and let animals roam. this silkwear, cement walls, captured animals wasn't freedom.  freedom is the pure wind flowing through the air, settling on his hair and garments, the sun resting on his skin, wildflowers dancing across green, smooth grass. trapping him inside this emotional dome of fake air, fake warmth, fake people isn't going to satisfy him.  
  
chan isn't a bird that is satisfied with being stuck in a cage all his life, foolish father and mother.  
_  
_ _at least they let me stretch my wings_ , he remembers the pure look of disgust written on every inch and corner of their faces every time he yelled at them for not letting him go, even just moments before.

 

  
  
_"i can't be happy like this! you have to let me go!"  
  
"you are our firstborn son, christopher!" his mother yelled at him back. "what will hannah and lucas think?!"  
  
"as much as i love them with every beat of my heart, mom, i can't stay here. let lucas take over the throne!"  
  
"lucas!" his father laughed in a sense of bitterness. "what will the other kingdoms say when they hear my eldest son is a dirty drifter and my youngest has to take over the throne instead?”  
  
“oh i pity you because our reputation to other kingdoms and your political gain are both more important than your son’s happiness.” he spat. “that's what was always important to you. never me, mom, lucas or hannah - no dad, politics is more important.”  
  
“christopher, you know that's not what i meant.”  
  
“if it wasn't, father, why was that the first thing to come to your mind?”  
  
“christopher, you are becoming a dirty street drifter! why can't you just be satisfied with everything we have given you?”  
  
“is that just what i am to you?” he whispered, emotions were threatening to overturn him but he refused to give in. “a dirty, crusty rat who can only be satisfied with becoming a drifter?”  
  
“chris, you know i don't think that-”  
  
“i’m sorry, mother and father, i’m so sorry for not wanting to be forced to put on a crown & live in an unhappy marriage for the rest of my life only for politics!” he yelled at them, and their eyes widen. “oh, you really thought we didn't know how much you two hate each other? you old fucking idiots, you old hag.”  
  
chan had to resist from smiling once his mother’s face puffed up in anger and screamed, “you want to leave that badly? fine! pack your bags and go!”  
  
“oh, mother,” he tsked. “it’s amazing that you think i haven't already packed a long time ago.”_  
  
  
  
  
  
  
chan’s first instinct, once the invisible chain was set free from his person, was to head to the forest - the real one. the castle garden did have a couple of trees to try to replicate the forest feeling but it was useless considering it still didn't feel right.  
  
he approached the forest with a soft smile on his face, wide enough to show the dimples on his cheeks. his fingers hovered above the bark of the tree, and gently, he grazed his fingers and swiped them across the rough texture of bark. his eyes gleamed of awe and the corners of his lips slowly turned upwards as his jaw slacked open a little.  
  
touching the bark, it was like recharging. from the energy coursing through him, he laughed happily and started to gently jog across the forest. he let his fingers touch all the trees he was passing by for a split second and he felt even more energized. he felt right, comfortable running through this light forest.  
  
in the wooded areas, he found a tall patch of grass and flowers. from his first instinct, he threw his backpack to the side and he felt so happy he jumped into it. his chest landed onto the grass with a thud, and he closed his eyes. he took in all the sounds of the birds, the bugs and all of the light winds rustling the grass and flowers in. this moment, this moment in this timeline - is perfect. his skin was enlightened with heat from the hot sun from above, and for the first time he felt what he calls freedom.  
  
his parents forced him to stay inside the kingdom his entire childhood, all his attempts to escape or sneak out were absolutely futile. for the first time in his life, he felt truly happy. the closest he had ever felt to this was being able to take care of his siblings. maybe in nights of melancholy and frigidness, he’d feel sentimentality and a tinge of sadness for leaving hannah and lucas behind - but he couldn't stay his entire life in that bloody castle just to be with his siblings. he would either get out and live a happy life or rot in there unsatisfied and unhappy.  
  
maybe his mother would subconsciously wait for him to come back, but he won't. being free is a liquid and now that he got his first taste, his first few gulps, his thirst really isn't quenched, and won't ever be.  
  
eventually, he felt the burn in the back of his head when he felt sleepy. not wanting to go to sleep in such a vulnerable area, he forced himself to get up. dusting himself off but lightly picking up the bugs that roamed over his body, he smiled. he crouched down, and let each one of them walk onto his finger. he put his fingers down to the ground so that the little creatures would safely get off. he smiled even harder and picked up the discarded bag, and started to look for a tree with no birds so he wouldn't possibly disturb any of them.  
  
once he found one and made sure there weren't any feathery creatures that he could frighten, he tightened his backpack and climbed up the tree with ease. a strong, thick branch was wide and had two smaller branches right next to it, so he determined that he could lay there. he put his backup at his feet, grabbed his blanket and put it across the branches, and laid onto it.  
  
his eyes closed once more and he drifted off to a safe dream, with warmth filling up his ribcage. he dreamed of silver and gold backgrounds and glows - but he wasn't unfamiliar with this setting, all his dreams were like this. whether they’d be rusty shades or glowing, shiny shades depended on his mood, though. he fell asleep at around an afternoon but woke up an hour or two after when the afternoon had turned orange and dusty.  
  
he stretched his arms and smiled once again, feeling content. he grabbed his backpack and blanket and jumped down from the tree.  
  
while patting himself down to get any leaves off, he heard a group of tiny gasps from ahead of him, in the tall grass. he looked up and his eyes met with a group of… weird looking, human-like creatures.  
  
“the human woke up!” one of them trembled and they all started to speak in a language that sounded vaguely familiar but he didn't understand a single word.  
  
“what? what are you guys talking about?” the warm silvers and golds in chan’s body turned to a confused yellow. “what do you mean ‘the human’? aren't you guys human too?”  
  
“no, we’re not.” a ‘man’ spoke, dressed in black, ripped up clothing from head to toe, bat-like wings sprung from his back and he had similar pointy ears upon his black hair. although he resembled a bat, his face seemed soft and very friendly.  
  
“what the fuck?” chan’s voice grew even more confused. his eyebrows furrowed. this completely woke him up but that just made him even more confused - because if he’s not dreaming, what the hell is going on? “what do you mean you’re not?”  
  
an older teenager with round, bear-like ears and claws that seemed to be chipped down to almost complete numbness, becoming more like dark nubs than claws got from behind the bat boy. he spoke in the same language as before, but he sounded unsure & nervous.  
  
“c’mon, hyunjin. how can a human be more dangerous than us?” the bat spat to the bear boy, “hyunjin”. hyunjin’s mouth closed shut, but his lip muscles trembled.  
  
“i’m kim woojin, [a bat god](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leutogi).” the bat boy says. he points to a shell-shocked freckled boy with gigantic white wings and he had an icy aura around his body. “lee felix, ice dragon.”  
  
he pointed to an unbothered looking boy with antlers, heart fangs over his bottom lips, and smaller wings. behind his antlers were a pair of long, floppy grey ears resembling that of a bunny. “kim seungmin, [a wolpertinger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolpertinger).”  
  
then a teenager with straight, black hair in a bowl cut with a pointy nose and a sharp jawline. he had large wings but still inferior to felix’s, a tail resembling a lion's, and a snake wrapped around his waist, hissing. he puffed and small smokes came from his lips which reminded chan of a dragon, despite his tail being more of a lion’s. on his head were a pair of goat horns. “seo changbin, [a chimaera](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimera_\(mythology\)).”  
  
he pointed to the most normal looking boy out of the bunch, apart from the pink aura glowing around him. “yang jeongin, [a trickster](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trickster).”  
  
he pointed to a confident looking boy with a black shirt with rolled up sleeves, with flaps of greenish skin at his elbows and green scales along his cheekbones, hands and neck. he had olive skin undertones and a necklace with a shining emerald. his eyes were brown, but every second he spent looking at them, they kept having more and more of a crimson tint. “lee minho, [bakunawa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakunawa).”  
  
then, a boy with feathery wings, an orange aura, yellow eyes and a bright smile. despite having the features of a bird, his face was more of a squirrel. “han jisung, i know he looks like an overgrown chicken but he’s actually an[ ibong adarna](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibong_Adarna).”  
  
he pointed at the previously nervous boy with bear features but silky smooth skin and ethereal looks that vaguely reminded him of a nymph or a fairy. “and last but not least; hyunjin.”  
  
“what… what are you guys?”  
  
“we’re just a group of half mythological, half humans, human boy.” minho the bakunawa spoke, his lips etching up into a smirk.  
  
“who are you, though?” hyunjin spoke, his lips still trembling. for a bear, he was quite a scaredy cat - if he wasn't so confused, maybe he would’ve cracked a smile.  
  
“prince - well former prince bang chan.”  
  
“why former, may i ask?”  
  
“well, i didn't want to stay at my kingdom, the one nearby, and i’ve been fighting with my parents about it for the longest time, right? an hour ago, i called my mom, the queen an old hag while in an argument. got kicked out, finally.”  
  
“you wanted to leave?” the shy, ice dragon felix asked and chan had to take a double take from how deep & unexpected felix’s voice was. damn, he doesn't know how puberty for ice dragons work, but the human puberty really hit him with a baseball bat. “why?”  
  
“oh, uhm…” chan felt a bit pink at his surprise, and focused on talking to felix more instead of just standing there with a slack jaw. “i guess… i never felt right being in a castle, trapped in a kingdom all my life. never going anywhere, just sitting there on a big fancy throne, to be married off to some princess because of politics, and because i’m the eldest son.. i needed to be set free. i guess my parents either didn't wanna accept it or didn't understand it.”  
  
the group of boys nodded, and they seemed to understand chan’s need. “say,” seungmin spoke. “got a place you’re heading to?”  
  
“nope.” chan chuckled. “i guess i was just so happy i got set free from my cage that i didn't really think about where i was gonna stay for the night, or the nights after that, really..”  
  
they all briefly looked at each other, nodded and smiled. minho’s smile was sly as he spoke, “come with us then, crown boy. you won't feel out of place, we’re all disgraced or abandoned. we’re just a bunch of stray kids.”  
  
“stray kids, huh?” chan’s eyes quirked up, but he smiled. “sounds catchy. i’m in.”  
  
the boys all cheered, welcoming chan with warm smiles and open arms. woojin seemed like the leader of stray kids, which chan wasn't surprised about.  
  
“alright, chan, first we’re gonna head back to our nearby camp, grab all our stuff and head on out.” woojin patted chan’s back,  and chan had a small smile on his face. “we’ll explain our backstories and why we’re called stray kids, later, okay? some of us will take longer to open up or tell our backstory, but that’ll come with time. it’s not the most important thing right now, is it?”  
  
“nah, don't worry about it, hyung - wait, you’re older than me right?”  
  
woojin laughed, “chan, i’m a bat god. my spirit in itself is over 2 thousand years old. yes, i’m your hyung.”  
  
chan blushed out of embarrassment, but nodded. “yeah, sorry hyung.”  
  
“no problem, besides i make new bodies to live in every 50 years or so. i don't blame ya, this body is only 21 years old.”  
  
“wait, so you’re just a spirit.. basically? and you take other people’s bodies?” chan questioned on, seeing that woojin wasn't uncomfortable with answering.  
  
“ya, chan! i’m a god, i don't take other people’s bodies because i’m supposed to protect the people, that’s my job. i create new bodies myself so i can inherit them and have a human form.” woojin explained and chan felt thankful he was willing to answer even what would seem like stupid questions to a 2 thousand-year-old spirit.  
  
“yah, minho! stop plucking out my feathers before i bite your necklace off, you smug punk!” they heard jisung and minho bickering up ahead, with minho answering back,  “when you start respecting me, you brat!”  
  
woojin sighed, “sorry chan, gotta settle those two lovebirds out. we’ll catch up later, okay?” woojin patted his back once more and chan nodded. woojin smiled and jogged up ahead.  
  
despite the dusty afternoon sun blessing his eyes with warm colours such as purple and orange, and his skin with warmth satisfaction, suddenly his skin got goosebumps and his entire body felt cold. he cursed to himself when he noticed felix besides him.  
  
“oh! uhm, sorry felix.” chan tried his best to not let his teeth clatter. he doesn't know if felix’s cheeks, nose and ears are red from embarrassment or just his general body temperature.  
  
“uh, no, i should be the one apologizing, chan… sorry, you didn't expect that, did you? usually, i turn my temperature down, but i feel the most comfortable at this degree.. i’ll turn it down.” felix shyly explained while walking alongside chan.  
  
“oh, no i’ll just grab my blanket or something from my backpack if you feel comfortable like that! it’s no problem, whatever makes you comfortable..”  
  
chan determined that yeah, his cheeks were red from embarrassment. because even chan could feel warmth again, felix’s cheeks were still red. “you didn't have to, felix..”  
  
“i wanted to! uhm, you’re new to the team and i wanna make you feel like at home, hyung!” felix spoke unexpectedly bubbly, and chan smiled warmly.  
  
“thank you, felix.”  
  
“uhm,” felix rubbed his forearm. “i was.. abandoned because ice dragons are bred to protect vikings’ ancient treasures. we’re meant to be mean, and scary, we’re born like that. but, out of all of my siblings, i was the only one who genuinely doesn't have the heart to be mean or murder people. i can't, i’m too shy. and i come from a long line of the most terrifying ice dragons…. i’m basically a major surprise, but not a pleasant one. my grandfather never even hesitated to chop off another dragon’s head clean off… that's why i’m with stray kids.”  
  
chan looked off to the group of kids right ahead, and he felt thankful felix opened up about his backstory so quickly. to make chan feel not alone.  
  
“thank you, felix. for opening up to me so fast, for trusting me so fast. i hope we can become good friends.” chan grinned at felix and felix’s cheeks became a darker red, mouth forming an ‘o’. dragons are often told of as gruesome, merciless creatures, that is true - but then there are dragons like felix, who are so cute and just makes chan want to wrap him up and keep him in his pocket. what a cute kid.  
  
felix’s face shuns a smile and nodded. mayhaps his cuteness scale went up by a thousand.  
  
“we’ve arrived!” jeongin the trickster exclaimed loudly once a small camp came into view, with only a couple of bags and a makeshift campfire. changbin took out a map of the region, and he determined they were at the little x on the map, resting at the edge of the forest.  
  
“usually,” some tiny pieces of dim smoke come out every time changbin speaks, but it’s not enough to be annoying - but enough for chan go acknowledge it. “we don't stop by in town for supplies, if we need food we hunt it and if we need money we steal it. but uh…”  
  
changbin pointed at chan’s general direction, going up, down and pointing at the silkwear resting on chan’s body. minho spoke, “yeah, not that it’s not cute but you’re gonna have to change in some… i guess stray kids appropriate clothes. you’re too eye-catching, you look like a prince. wearing silk amongst a bunch of teenagers with like, the most basic of clothes, people will think that we kidnapped you or some shit.”  
  
chan nodded, “ah, got it. i have no problem with it. i have enough money to buy a fresh set of clothes.”  
  
“good.” woojin nodded. “we’re going to head over to the town nearby then.” woojin pointed somewhere near the x, to a town called goldgrove.  
  
“we’ll stop by here just to get your clothes, then we’re off.”  
  
“fine by me.” chan smiled, and woojin nodded with a smile back. grabbing their bags, and leaving the ash in the campfire, they headed to goldgrove.

 

  
  
minho came up to chan while chan was just mindlessly following the group, his mind in auto-pilot. he smirked and snaked his arm around chan’s shoulder, immediately popping the bubble chan was in. “oh? uh, hey minho.”  
  
he wasn't used to being so close to someone after he just met them, so the close proximity between him and minho made him more flustered than he’d like to admit. and he also wouldn't ever admit that his ears turned a light shade of pink, that is just too humiliating.   
  
“aw, baby channie is embarrassed~! what, did the queen never let you near a boy either?” minho joked and chan laughed.  
  
“indirectly, by never letting me outside the castle. and by the way, how old are you?” chan quirked his eyebrow.  
  
“20, aren't you 18 or something?”  
  
“ya!” chan slapped minho’s hand away. “i’m 21, i’m your hyung!”  
  
it was the first time some sort of rose tint appeared in minho’s skin, just underneath his green scales on his cheekbones. a light wind suddenly grazed by. “sorry, hyung!”  
  
“nah, i’m just messing with you.” chan smiled at how minho’s rose tint grew just a shade darker. it was amusing seeing the confident presenting bakunawa get embarrassed.  
  
“you know what bakunawas do, right..?”  
  
“you guys create earthquakes, winds, rain and… uh..”  
  
“eclipses.” minho finished, and a little smile appeared on his face. chan smiled back, finally comfortable now that there wasn't that much of close proximity between them. “yeah, you’re gonna fit right in, hyung.”  
  
“yeah… thanks for reassuring me.”  
  
minho nodded and went up ahead, plucking jisung’s feather just to regain his confidence. jisung yelped and despite minho being his hyung, he hit his hyung. they started bickering again, but he could see both of their cheeks slightly red. _ah, cute..!_  
  
“now, felix!” he could hear jeongin yelling, encouraging felix to do something and chan immediately snaps back to the sound. before he knew it, his arms were being grabbed by small but strong hands and his feet were off the ground. he screamed, his entire body gaining a slight cold aura and he looked up and saw felix looking ahead with his pupils filled with pink.  
  
he was high off the ground, almost all of stray kids on the ground looking like fucking ants. he screamed again, everyone looking up and suddenly stopping. though, another ant, presumably jeongin was on the ground laughing while another ant, maybe seungmin or changbin, was hitting him for being mischievous. he could hear a faint, “jeongin i swear to god, couldn't you have waited until we got to town before you started clowning the newbie?!”  
  
he screamed again, and that made felix snap out of it apparently because he looked down to see chan in a distressed state and his eyes didn't have his pink glints anymore. “oh my god, chan hyung, i’m so sorry! jeongin clowned me again..!”  
  
“enough apologies, get me down!” he yelled to felix and felix nodded, with felix’s giant wings they started to swoop down onto the ground. with a flap of his wings, felix gently puts him down onto the ground. chan swears his stomach is threatening to spill out when he gets on the ground and felix is immediately by his side.  
  
“jisung, help the poor guy.”  
  
“on it.” he can hear jisung’s footsteps somewhere near him, and jisung kneels down right next to him. jisung’s hand touches chan’s body and in a few painfully fleeting seconds an unknown but pleasant energy courses right through his body. it’s warm, and it reminds him of just laying in a bath. once it stops, he immediately feels so much better and he thanks jisung.  
  
jeongin comes up to chan with an apologetic facial expression, with a mad felix behind him. woojin helps chan up, and when he sees jeongin he smacks him. “i swear to god, jeongin! chan isn’t a halfblood like we are, he’s 100% a human! you can’t just trick felix again and then make him pick up chan & go up that high! god, he could’ve passed out or something similar.”  
  
jeongin looks genuinely apologetic and remorseful, and he says a weak, “sorry, hyung..”  
  
chan smiles a little, “it’s fine jeongin, i understand you’re a trickster god, right? it’s in your nature to joke like that and you’ve never really met a human before, and you just forgot i was one. it’s okay, just please don’t do that anymore.”  
  
“i just wanted to clown with you, to make you feel apart of the team, hyung..”  
  
“do you hear what i’m saying?” chan chuckles. “s’fine.”  
  
chan gets surprised when jeongin suddenly hugs chan, and his mouth slacks open for a few seconds. but he smiles and hugs him back for a few seconds before jeongin pulls away. jeongin smiles, “welcome to the team hyung.”  
  
“thanks, jeongin.”  
  
“alright, alright, enough of the sappiness, we’re here.” seungmin says and gestures to the town full of cute little shops and cosy looking houses. animals were roaming freely and kids were playing, running around. chan almost didn’t trust the town, almost didn’t even want to go near it.  
  
but he had to, as felix gently wrapped his fingers around chan’s wrist and softly pulled chan with him, smiling encouragingly. chan tried his best to smile, and he nods. they go inside the town, and already they’re catching a few looks.  
  
_i mean_ , chan doesn’t exactly blame them. a group consisting of a bear, a bunny with antlers and fangs, a dragon with menacingly gigantic wings, some dude with a pink aura surrounding him, a dude with large feathery wings and an orange aura, another guy with scales and flaps of skin on his elbows, a dude that’s either emo or cosplaying as a bat, a guy with goat horns and a snake tied around his waist, and to top it all off a normal looking dude wearing fancy, prince-like clothes? it sounds already ridiculous enough in theory, especially in practice.  
  
minho and seungmin just pat chan on the back, saying “we’re used to this, just ignore them and follow us”. chan nods shyly, and they lead him to the town square so they can ask a local where the nearest clothes shop is. night is already falling, so they just need to get chan’s clothes and get the fuck out of there.  
  
while standing around, waiting for someone to be kind enough to let them ask a question, he everts his eyes around, and his gaze finds a vendor selling silver jewellery. immediately, he felt a pull from inside him. he doesn’t know why, or how but he needs to get to this vendor. he needs to get to that silver as fast as he possibly can.  
  
his eyes start emitting a soft glow from inside them, and with every step he takes closer to the vendor, more and more he feels like he’s outside of his own body. like he’s not in control of his body and he’s just a bystander, an onlooker witnessing every step.  
  
“good evening, sir, can i help you?”  
  
“s-silver... food.” he doesn’t know why he said this, or why he kept getting even closer to the jewellery. “sir?”  
  
“chan we found the directions to the shop - chan?” woojin says, and they all look around to find chan close to biting off the silver jewellery on the stand. they gasp, and immediately minho and felix launch at chan, holding him back. they frantically repeat his name, and eventually, the glow goes away.  
  
“wha - what just happened?”  
  
“i…” woojin looks just as shell-shocked as chan, all of them do. why did chan get a glow in his eyes? and why.. did he say silver was food? growing up as a prince, he always had silver necklaces, and nothing happened to him. his crown had a strip of silver around the gold and the jewels. what the hell? “you haven’t met any half-bloods before us, so being with us is a new experience, so maybe being with us just had an effect on your body? or maybe your body couldn’t handle the healing jisung did on you earlier, chan..”  
  
“huh. i guess i don’t know, you guys are the half-bloods here. you should know more than me.”  
  
“right now your guess is as good as ours, hyung.” seungmin spoke, his fangs showing.  
  
“my magic did probably take a toll on you. sorry, hyung, i should’ve been the one to warn you about that since i’m the one who did the spell on you.” jisung apologized, and chan brushed it off.  
  
“no worries, jisung. i should’ve expected something like this would happen after the first time i ever had a spell cast on me. i didn’t even know spells existed before that,” chan laughed. “it's absolutely fine.”  
  
“i’ll do a protection spell next time before i use the actual spell. okay, hyung?” jisung smiled shyly and apologetically.  
  
“you’re the dude with the magic here, not me. you know what's best.”  
  
jisung smiled and nodded, and woojin just sighed. “we’ll discuss this later, for now, let’s just get you out of your prince clothes.”  
  
chan nodded, and he ended up just getting a simple white shirt, black pants and brown leather bracers, and he kept his princely knee-high boots. he put his old silk wear into his backpack, not sure if he wants to sell it or keep it for sentimentality sakes quite just yet.  
  
they leave town when it’s completely dark and woojin takes out three unlit torches and hands them to changbin. changbin warns everyone to keep their distance and hands his pet snake ( _for such a menacing snake, her name is “cuddles”_ ), so he collects all the possible smoke in his lungs before he unleashes it. from his lips come out a large amount of fire, almost making chan flinch and tense up, and he sees in the corner of his eyes how jisung holds his wings in fear.  
  
once the torches catch their light, he hands them over. one to woojin at the front,  minho in the middle because jisung is deathly afraid his feathers will catch fire and one to chan at the very back with felix.  
  
“the torches won’t last that long, it’s just so we can get to a hideaway and build a small camp for the night. so keep it moving, boys!” changbin explains to everyone at the very front, and everyone nods in understanding.  
  
they start walking with heavy bags on their pack, and chan notices that felix looks uncomfortable next to him. he’s humming vacantly and keeps shifting his eyes everywhere even though he’s pretty sure felix doesn’t have night vision. he then realizes that the fire of the torch is probably the reason and so he moves away a little bit from felix.  
  
felix looks up and looks at chan with an innocently confused face. _fuck, i never thought i would think of a dragon as this cute in my life, i didn’t even know they existed before, but this boy is making me really reconsider that._ “i just, thought maybe the heat and fire were making you uncomfy, right?”  
  
“oh.” felix hums. “yeah, you’re right i just didn’t think you would notice, really…”  
  
chan smiles and in an unknown split decision he takes felix’s hand into his own, surprising both felix and himself partly. felix makes a small, surprised noise. “we’re friends now, okay felix? you can tell me when you feel uncomfortable or when you’re worrying. we only met today, but i want to establish that from the start. you can always tell me your worries or when you feel uncomfortable with something i do or say.”  
  
felix looked genuinely surprised, with chan’s words, his gesture, his smile. but his mouth shaped into an ‘o’ suddenly twitches upwards into a sweet smile, and in the back of his heart, he has to stop it from melting. he nods and doesn’t pull his hand away from chan’s.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
“so,” chan starts after he made sure felix’s blanket was comfortable. the giant fire changbin had made to last throughout the night was as far away from felix; so he could go back to his most comfortable temperature. “what's stray kids all about?”  
  
“the name says it all, darling.” minho says, his arms leaning back. “we’re a group of outcasted kids wandering without a destined home because our home is each other.”  
  
“when i say ‘what’s stray kids all about’, i mean how did you guys find each other? why did you get here if you’re comfortable with me asking, and how did it form?” chan asks, and the atmosphere shifts.  
  
jisung starts first with an embarrassed smile. “you know how i can use spells, right?”  
  
chan nods, encouraging jisung to continue talking. “well, the ones i always knew ever since i was born, or kinda like the most natural for me to cast is healing and turning people into stone, but i couldn’t control my magic for the longest time. i would randomly cast a healing spell whenever i sneezed or cried or something like that. it was bad enough cause most of the times it was the stone spell, and i turned so many little animals into stone. and i love animals!”  
  
everyone looked at jisung amusingly, knowing where the story was going to go. “well, one day that inability to control my magic really bit me in the ass when i yelled out of excitement once and accidentally turned the mayor’s son into stone. got kicked out of town cause i was the only one who’s able to fix him but i didn’t know how to, i was just a kid. i was 13, that was five years ago when i found woojin hyung and he took me in with everyone else.”  
  
woojin smiled. he took a breath before he spoke, “i served an ancient deity for a thousand years of my life, i was always loyal towards her. but i disagreed with her on something and she banished me.”  
  
minho was next, atop of his olive undertones he looked embarrassed. he sighed, “although i control eclipses, earthquakes, winds and rain in this region, my parents weren’t bakunawa. the bakunawa spirit chose me to be the next leader for this region even if both of my parents are human. i got abandoned as a young child, and i went through a lot of foster homes before i finally found woojin hyung a couple of years ago.”  
  
“felix, do you feel comfortable telling chan what happened to you?” woojin asked in an encouraging tone.  
  
“i already know felix’s story, he told me earlier.”  
  
“wait, really?” woojin looked very surprised, but he smiled at felix’s pink cheeks. “good job, lix! i’m proud of you!”  
  
everyone clapped and smiled warmly at felix, and felix smiled softly back.  
  
“is it my turn?” seungmin asked unbothered. “eh, it’s simple. my parents were abusive so i ran away from my village 3 years ago. found jisung & changbin while i was running away, and they took me back to woojin, felix and minho.”  
  
“you know i’m a trickster, right?” whatever jeongin did, he looked genuinely embarrassed about. “well, before i used to use my tricks for really bad things morally. the town council got tired of me and my antics, so they just banished me. i got really sad, so i was going to the river to uhm.. drown myself. the boys were all there, just taking a swim when they asked me what i was doing alone without any food or money. then, they took me in and woojin hyung has been teaching me how to use my tricks for pranks, not to actually hurt people.”  
  
“besides woojin, i’m the oldest one here.” changbin says, slowly petting cuddles as she drifts off to a sleep. “i’m 153 years old, i got here 100 years ago. my village was made of nymphs and dryads, and they didn’t really feel comfortable with a chimaera in their village. soon as they could, they kicked me out.”  
  
“i’m the newest one here.” hyunjin puffs. “or well, you’re technically the newest one but i only started travelling with stray kids a couple of months ago. i’m not actually some bear creature, i’m a nymph. foolishly, i kinda got involved with one of the gods’ sons, and i didn’t know he was the son of a god. his mom got pissed that he was dating a nymph so she cursed me. jisung has been working on a spell to reserve what she did to me for months now..”  
  
“yeah, and i’m super close to turning you back into your ethereal self, i promise jinnie!” hyunjin smiled. they fist bumped, and everyone looked fond and happy. minho jokes, "moral of the story; don't fuck a goddess' son."

"that is not the moral of the story!" hyunjin whines, lightly kicking minho. minho pokes back at him, chan was smiling although he did have a couple of thoughts running through his head.

  
“it’s weird how although i can’t relate to turning the mayor’s son into stone or being banished by an ancient deity, i still feel connected to you guys. even if i chose freedom and you guys didn’t.”  
  
“that’s the feeling you’re supposed to get with us, chan.” woojin smiled softly. “you don’t have to be a half-blood to be a stray kid, you don’t have to relate to us directly to feel connected to us. we’re your friends, your family now.”  
  
chan felt content with this family. although he knows he’ll miss his siblings and already does, he knows he’ll fit right in with stray kids.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
over the next following weeks, chan’s gut feeling turned out to be completely right.  
  
chan woke up with droplets of water being dropped onto his face. he shook his head immediately, his hand going to wipe the water off. “what the fuck, guys?”  
  
“wake up channie hyung!” jeongin smiled. “we’re gonna go to a nearby lake and have some fun~!”  
  
“i don't wanna…”  
  
“hey, what’s the big deal? you’re a human, you don't have to cast a spell to make your wings go away for a couple of hours so you can swim, right?” minho sassily says, already shirtless and in a pair of boxers.  
  
“yeah, but c’mon.”  
  
“if you don't technically have any physical nuisances to get over so you can swim, you can't complain.”  
  
he could see in the distance jisung casting a spell on felix, and felix’s wings slowly faded away. admittingly, felix looked weird without his gigantic, white wings, and jisung didn't have his feathery ones either. it made chan slightly uncomfortable.  
  
“stop gawking at felix and get ready, hyung.” seungmin said from behind chan, which made him jump from surprise. “you’re the last one to wake up so you better make a move, fast.”  
  
“jesus, seungmin.” chan clutched his shirt lightly but got up anyways. he cleaned himself off and folded the blanket he slept on and into his bag. he stretched, his back having weird spots of uncomfortableness because of the ground he slept on, despite the blanket being in between.  
  
he looked around and saw that the group was already leaving. he panicked, hastily placing his bag on his back and sprinting after the members. he expected to see a pink glint in all of their irises, but none of them had any essence of pink anywhere. they all laughed at chan and he pouted.  
  
“is this how y’all treat new members or am i just an exception?”  
  
“take a wild guess.” jeongin snickered, clearly enjoying it the most out of everyone. chan couldn't help but smile, shaking his head.  
  
once they got to the lake, although chan was technically inferior since he isn't a half-blood, he had one objective: to win.  
  
he took his shirt off and he was only left in his boxers, and so were all the other kids. felix wasn't gonna get into any antics, and he was probably just going to take a swim because of his shy nature. so he didn't want to focus on felix’s pale body, or at the very least try his best not to.  
  
he knew jisung hated water but he needed to take a bath so he was probably just going to take a swim and get some soap or whatever, woojin, seungmin and changbin too but minho was suspicious and jeongin was expected.  
  
once in the water, jeongin and minho almost immediately looked and nodded each other, followed with a smile afterwards. their eyes gazed towards jisung and he almost wanted to scoff. pft _, jisung? an easy target in the water._  
  
while jisung got his head underwater to get his hair wet, jeongin’s eyes turned completely pink and his pink aura became stronger. minho went underwater and chan almost shit himself when he saw minho reappear seconds later with jisung.  
  
he didn't have to see the entire thing to think ‘ _...yeah, maybe next time_ i’ll _win._ ’ he averted his eyes to felix calmly floating with his eyes closed, smiling. he ignored jisung’s high pitched scream and swam over to felix, lightly grazing his hands over felix’s legs. felix yelps and flinches opens his eyes in shock but relaxes when he sees it’s chan.  
  
“channie hyung, you scared me! i thought it was minho and jeongin.” felix shuddered, even in warm water. “those two are chaotic geniuses when they're together, those bastards.”  
  
chan resisted the urge to widen his eyes a little bit at felix using a curse word, but instead smiled. “i wanna go on a long swim, wanna go with me?”  
  
“sure.” felix smiled politely, but out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a pink glow.  
  
“felix, watch out!” chan immediately pushed felix out of the way, shielding him with his chest. maybe if it happened slower chan would’ve felt heavily embarrassed, but his fight or flight response kicked in and there’s no time for that. chan felt an energy course through him, similar to jisung’s healing but unlike jisung’s magic, it was uncomfortable.  
  
before his mind went blank, he could hear a frustrated “dammit!” slip past both jeongin and minho’s mouths.  
  
after his mind restored control, he changed from being in a panicked flight or fight response to a calm, almost confused state of just floating with a deathly grip on felix. he looked around and loosened his grip on felix.  
  
“why did you block felix, hyung?” minho asks almost in a groan.  
  
“because you brats already messed with him and me enough yesterday, cowards! going for the easy targets.” chan yelled back, recalling when minho and jeongin got control of both him and felix and made them do humiliating things.  
  
“dammit, hyung, i have to recharge now.” jeongin whined to minho, and they turned around to swim back to the shore where the rest of them were.  
  
felix came up from behind chan and wrapped his arms around chan, he almost flinched but when he felt the cool breeze aura he relaxed. “serves you right jeongin, you bastard!”  
  
“are you sure you're the third oldest, hyung?” seungmin asks chan from the shore and chan shrugs.  
  
“call me the fake maknae, then!”  
  
“when you four stop bickering, it’ll be nice for you two to get out of the water so we can head on our way.”  
  
“okay, hyung!” they both said.  
  
“channie hyung…” felix whined. “can you piggyback me to the shore? i’m tired.”  
  
if it was anyone else, truly he would say ‘fuck off’ and just leave them alone right there to get cramps in the middle of the lake - but considering felix made his heart melt like fire to wax, he agreed. felix wrapped his legs around chan’s waist too, his chest was now completely pressed up against his back. while swimming he had to completely only focus on it and not that.  
  
“change your boxers, idiot.” minho threw a pair to felix, felix catching it while getting out of the water, still clinging onto chan. “you too, hyung.”  
  
felix got off chan, and chan caught another pair of fresh boxers being thrown at him. chan sighed, loving the sun melting on his skin. “the sun is beautiful, but there's been a lack of rain recently… minho, are you gonna do something about that or not?”  
  
“don't worry, hyung.” minho brushed it off, “i have a tight schedule i have to follow when it comes to all the shit i control. there’s rain planned for tonight, so we’re gonna have to find a cave to settle in.”  
  
“woojin hyung, got any plans?” chan said, collecting his clothes so he could go behind a couple of trees to change.  
  
“don't worry channie, i always do.”  
  
  
  
  
  
  
( _“so, felix has taken quite a liking to you, huh?” minho says while on a late night stroll with chan. chan almost chokes on air._ _  
  
“what makes you think that?” minho was the one holding the torch, so he just hopes he doesn't see the pink tint already growing on chan.  
  
“well first day you got here, he almost immediately told you his backstory. that took woojin hyung months and months to do.”  
  
“minho,” chan groaned. “c’mon, he had to tell his backstory individually 8 times before i came here, he’s probably just gotten more comfortable with telling everyone why he's here.”  
  
“he’s always red around you.” oh, come on.  
  
“he’s red around everyone, minho, he’s shy. it’s in his nature to blush whenever somebody looks at his general direction.”  
  
the bakunawa sighed, stopped in his tracks and grabbed onto chan’s shoulders. ‘“just listen to me. i’ve known him for years, i know when he takes a really huge liking to someone. you’re one of them, just trust me, okay?”  
  
“okay, fine.” chan smiled mockingly, not believing a word that was spilling from his mouth but he's still liking the sound of it anyway.  
  
minho looked defeated. “you're hard to convince, huh?”  
  
_ _“as hard as it is to make pigs fly.”_ )  
  
  
  
  
once they got to the cave, there was limited space so they all had to share three piles of blankets together. chan ended up sharing with felix - which he had mixed feelings about. _here, you get to share a bed with a guy who you think is really, really cute!_ that is absolutely terrifying, but he knew if it was anyone else sharing a bed with felix he would feel immensely jealous.  
  
chan had a really, really hard time falling asleep and he doesn’t know why. but when he looks over to felix softly sleeping with a small smile on his face, maybe he didn’t even want to know. maybe it’s their close proximity, maybe it’s the rain stimulating his brain enough for him to lose the ability to sleep, or maybe it’s felix’s soft breathing. whatever it is, he doesn’t really want to know.  
  
he closes his eyes and turns around, his back to the dragon. chris come on, he curses his own self in his head, you’re never gonna fall asleep like this.  
  
eventually, his eyes felt droopy, and the familiar ache in the back of his eyes came barging in and he almost wanted to celebrate. but that would probably wake him right back up and he just got to sleepy town.  
  
he woke up abruptly a few hours later with the taste of sleep prominent in his mouth, and he was hungry. his hunger matched that of a wolf’s, and he was ready to chow down on anything he could find. his stomach growled while he slowly got up.  
  
his hand went up to his eyes, and there was a white glow reflecting onto it. usually, he’d go “what the fuck, where is that glow coming from?” but he didn’t care, this wasn’t like the usual times. he was hungry and ready to just eat anything.  
  
and then he got that feeling again.  
  
that same feeling that he got at the jewellery vendor. he felt like he wasn’t in his body anymore, he was just an outsider looking in. out of control, he couldn’t control anything that he was doing. he groaned, “hungry.. silver…”  
  
in his immensely hungry state, he woke up felix. he opened his eyes, blinking when he saw chan out of his bed, in a zombie-like pose groaning about hunger. maybe he would’ve thought nothing of it and just got back to sleeping if it wasn’t for the fact that there was a small light glowing from inside chan’s pupils.  
  
“chan? chan, what are you doing? your eyes are glowing…?” felix muttered in his confused and sleepy state, and sat up. he rubbed his eyes free of sleep, and chan started to walk deeper into the cave, and he got even more confused.  
  
“chan? _chan_?” now he got up from the warm pile on the cave floor, stumbling a bit but now being more worried than anything because chan never acted like this, and the glow got bigger. he started to follow behind chan, taking slow steps, wanting to see where chan would take him.  
  
chan’s mouth spoke of groans, and sometimes little whimpers and growls came from his stomach. he was really starting to concern him, what the hell was going on? where was he taking him? where did his hunger, presumably considering his stomach sounds, want him to go?  
  
when the glow emitting inside of chan’s eyes wasn’t a good enough light source, felix kept in every cold breath collecting it up and quietly letting it all out in order to create a fire. he cupped his hands and blew the fire into his hands, to keep it.  
  
after walking deeper and deeper into the cave, almost robotic footsteps being heard mingling with felix’s slow ones, he stops. he turns his head to the cave wall, his eyes completely a white glow now. the glow was able to capture the placement of silver and gold ore all across the wall and chan got closer to it.  
  
just as chan was about to put his hand to the wall, translucent wings sprouted from his back. they were hard to see considering there wasn’t much light inside the cave aside from chan and felix’s palms, but the sound they made when suddenly sprouting was surprising and he wasn’t expecting it. he made a surprised yelp and chan shot back around to look at felix directly.  
  
the form chan took once he turned into.. whatever this was, was genuinely frightening. there wasn’t much that changed, but his eyes only being white and the translucent wings right behind him were enough to scare felix.  
  
chan charged at felix, the expression on his face not being as a poker face anymore as much as it was a mad expression. jesus, he looked like felix murdered his wife and three kids.  
  
chan was approximately the same height as felix, but in this menacing pose, he made felix feel ten thousand times smaller. chan wrapped his hands around felix’s throat, applying pressure. the pressure suddenly being applied onto felix’s throat almost made all of the air knock right out of his lungs. he struggled, but he opened his cupped hands and threw the fire at chan.  
  
chan stumbled back and felix gained back the air that he lost. he gasped and screamed at chan, “chan! snap out of it, for fuck’s sake! it’s just me, felix!”  
  
chan’s trance state still didn’t want to listen to a word felix was screaming and charged at felix again. this time, felix blocked it and he kept on screaming that it’s just him. chan was starting to apply even more force when the final scream coming from felix made him snap out of it.  
  
the force was removed and the light previously in chan’s eyes travelled to his wings instead, and chan looked confused once all the light was removed. “felix..?”  
  
“chan, thank god you snapped out of it already!” felix laughed in relief but then his eyes spoke of horror. he started to mutter a repeated chain of “no, please fuck no, please” and somehow chan got even more confused.  
  
“what?”  
  
“oh, fuck please god, why?” felix turned his back around and started marching back towards the entrance of the cave, felix now being the one to not listen to chan.  
  
“everyone, everyone come on wake up!” felix yelled, everyone opening their eyes slowly and yawning. “come on, wake up!”  
  
“what’s wrong felix?” jisung asked with tangs of sleep in his voice.  
  
“chan isn’t a human.” felix’s tone calmed down but the message inside of it didn’t. “he’s a half-blood like us.”  
  
“how? he hasn’t shown any signs of being a half-blood so far, right?”  
  
“guys, fucking just look at him.” felix moved away and gestured to chan. everyone’s jaw either dropped or their eyes went wide. “he’s an [alicanto](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alicanto), for fuck’s sake!”  
  
all of them looked surprised and their eyes hinted of a grimace, felix whined and started bumping his head against the cave wall. chan felt confused at what they were looking at, but then he felt an added pressure on his back and he tried moving it around and then wings with a white glow came into view. he almost screamed but then just let out a squeak of surprise, and flinched back.  
  
“what are those?” chan asked meekly, scared to even touch them. seungmin smiles sympathetically, “they’re wings, hyung.”  
  
“o-okay, if i’m an alicanto, what even are they and why is it such a bad thing..?” he asks while touching his wings and flinching away when he felt the touch.  
  
woojin muttered something to himself, and started massaging his temples in frustration so changbin took the courtesy of explaining while rubbing woojin’s back. “alicantos are birds that are considered as good luck charms because they feast on silver and gold and so they can easily find the ores. their eyes glow typically at night or when they’re hungry, and at night they have translucent wings that hold all of their glow when they’re not hungry anymore. their wings are still there during the day but they’re not translucent. if a person follows the alicanto, and it catches them they’ll try to kill them as a punishment for being greedy.”  
  
“i mean, they sound pretty cool..” chan mutters to himself, scratching his head. “why is it so bad if i am one?”  
  
“because of their ability to find silver and gold, they’re hunted a lot and their species are on the brink of endangerment, channie hyung.” minho says and a sigh escapes his lips, slumping against the wall.  
  
“wait - does that mean you guys will abandon me..?”  
  
“of course not,” woojin snaps. “once a stray kid, always a stray kid, okay chan? sigh.. this just means we’ll have to take extra caution steps that we wouldn’t usually take, and one of us will help you learn how to fly using your wings and teach you that language we were speaking when we met you.”  
  
despite being there and listening to every word woojin was saying, he was still looking off to somewhere distant. he sat down on the pile of his shared blankets. “that’s why when you guys spoke in that language, it sounded so familiar to me but i couldn’t put my finger on what.”  
  
“well yeah, it’s a language only half-bloods and mythological creatures use.” jisung says distantly.  
  
“does that mean that my parents not only have a very unhappy marriage but my mother cheated on my father with a fucking stranger, and had unprotected sex… and somehow didn’t know the guy she had sex with was an alicanto?” chan theorized.  
  
“i hate to break it to you hyung, but it was either that or one of your parents was an alicanto, didn't tell the other parent. they knew that if they let you free outside of the castle walls, you would find out who you really are so they secluded you in the kingdom & had a spell on the kingdom of some sorts. the other parent agreed possibly because of politics or some bullshit safety.” minho looked distant, saying whatever was coming to mind and not exactly caring.  
  
“either one is pretty plausible because they both explain why you wanted to be free from the kingdom, hyung.” jeongin chimes in, everyone humming because he made a surprisingly good point.  
  
“what does this mean, for us? for stray kids?” hyunjin asks, lip trembling and eyebrows furrowed.  
  
“we’re all a wanted case, hyunjin hyung.” seungmin says, his head in his hands. “everyone here is hunted, wanted but not for love but instead to kill us. we’ve always had to take cautionary steps when traveling when doing anything. but we’re not as hunted as chan is, so we’ll just.. take 2x the caution we usually do.”  
  
“which one of us will teach chan, though?” minho asks.  
  
“i will.” felix says, his forehead resting against the cool stone wall. “or at the very least, i’ll teach him how to fly. i have the biggest wings here, i should do it.”  
  
“are you sure you wanna teach him how to speak the language as well?” woojin asks, and felix hums. “alright, felix is going to teach him. but we all have to help out, okay?” everyone nodded and hummed.  
  
“let’s just sleep for now,” chan put his face in his head. “sleep on it, then we’ll talk more about it when we’ve had time to think about it.”  
  
felix pulls his forehead away from the wall and he turns to at the foot of the pile, and he falls ahead. chan panics for a quick second before catching him and felix didn’t mind. he just wraps his arms around chan and nuzzles his nose into the crook of chan’s neck. chan blushes and minho gives him a suspicious look.  
  
chan eventually calms down and wonders why he didn’t let felix cuddle him sooner. together, they manage to get really warm in the cold, rainy cave and felix’s large wings serve as a blanket. usually, felix is cold but it’s like a heater is pressed right against his chest and it feels nice. despite what just happened, chan feels safe and content. it’s so fucking weird why felix even has this type of effect on chan. he’s never met anyone in his life that made him feel like that, not even hannah or lucas.  
  
he dreams of a smile, painted in gold. in his dream, he almost wanted to slap himself. that’s why he only ever saw silver or gold colours in his dreams, it wasn’t a coincidence, everything was connected and now in hindsight, chan was such a fucking dumbass. he can’t blame himself too much though, he didn’t even know these creatures existed in real life before a month ago. although being an alicanto is unfamiliar for chan, silver and gold are not.  
  
  
  
  
  
he woke up the next morning, groggy but warm because of one lee felix pressed up against his chest. he was so warm, and it made his cheeks hot too.  
  
“morning, lovebirds.” minho piped in somewhere behind him, and if he wasn't trapped on the pile of blankets with felix then he probably would’ve slapped him right across the face. “wake up felix for me, too. woojin hyung’s been bitching about it.”  
  
“where are the rest?” chan asks with a raspy voice. stretching his hands out from behind his head.  
  
“they’re hunting breakfast, others are picking flowers for tea.” minho hums, uninterested. his eye bags were prominent, saying wordlessly that he just woke up not too long ago. “they went about an hour or two ago, i just went back to sleep.”  
  
“why didn’t you guys wake up me and felix..?” chan furrowed his eyebrows in a confused expression.  
  
minho cooed, “you two just looked so cute, it would've been a shame if we did.”  
  
chan groaned, “it would be a shame if somehow you broke your nose, wouldn't it?”  
  
“you’re so mean, hyung.” minho laughed softly, still covered in warm blankets.  
  
chan ignored him in favour of waking felix up, he lightly shook felix’s head which was buried deep inside his neck. felix whined, the vibrations of his deep voice booming against his fair skin. felix brought his head up, eyebags clear on his face with a pouted pair of lips.  chan smiled softly at how cute he looked in his sleepy state, and ran a hand through his blonde hair. “wake up, lix.”  
  
“i don't wanna, hyung..” felix groaned. he clung onto chan even tighter, and chan started shaking his entire body to get his grip to loosen.  
  
“you gotta,” chan lightly pushed felix’s head away. “we start our flying lessons today, don't we? c’mon, lixie.”  
  
he groaned very loudly, but got his head away from his neck and pushed his torso up, with his soft fingers he rubbed his eyes. felix got up and stretched, making a slight moan while doing so. before he could even open his mouth to ask a question, minho chimes, “they're hunting and gathering flowers for tea.”  
  
“wh- oh, thanks hyung.” he nodded sheepishly, and chan got up as well, now fully stretching his body. “lix, we’re going to eat breakfast first before we start our first lesson, okay?”  
  
as if on cue, there were hollers coming from outside the cave and they all sounded like the rest of stray kids. chan, felix and minho all looked outside and saw the group with a few dead animals wrapped up in bags, and jisung flying right above them. jisung and woojin were both carrying two small plastic bags filled with flowers. jisung, being faster than them because of his flight, glided until he landed outside of the cave. he didn't see it before but he was also carrying a large container of water. goddamn.  
  
he sat the bag and the container down, and smiled at minho. “hyung, did you miss me?”  
  
“not a chance.” minho says all the while smiling slightly. jisung comes up right to him and without warning, still remaining eye contact with minho, he hugged him. for a few seconds only though because it wasn't long before minho pushed him away, blushing. as an act of quick revenge, minho pulled him in for a kiss but jisung pushed away frantically.  
  
chan coughed, catching the two by surprise since they promptly forgot felix and him were there, or frankly even existed. they both blushed even harder before jisung just grabbed the container and mumbled, “we should boil some of this to make for tea..”  
  
“on it,” chan says, grabbing a big enough bowl and cooking grate to be able to heat up the water inside. he moved some of the coal around in the firepit, and grabbed some sticks to the side and placed it on top of the coal. while pouring water, he motioned for jisung to cast a smaller fire spell, and so he did. a smaller flame grew in jisung’s palms and he got closer to the pit and threw the fire in.  
  
by the time the water started boiling, everyone had already arrived. chan almost barfed at the new smell of dead animals coming into his nose that he never smelled before.  
  
“hey lovebirds!” jeongin teased, placing a smaller bag onto the ground. “we were out, did you miss us?”  
  
“not really, no.” felix deadpanned while kneeling onto the ground, a small bowl in his hands, rinsing out the freshly picked flowers. jeongin snickered, “aw, lix! speak for yourself,  i bet channie hyung missed me.”  
  
his pink pupils stared at chan, a smile in it, but chan just shrugged. “i was sleeping, sorry innie.”  
  
jeongin looked fake outraged, “oh, did nobody miss me? i see how it is.”  
  
“tbh you don’t really give anyone a reason to, do you?” seungmin replied back and everyone snickered. “minho hyung, guess what these fuckers caught two of?”  
  
“seungmin, they’re easy to catch and you’re only like a quarter rabbit! you’re a wolpertinger, for fuck’s sake.” jisung’s hands went up in the air, his face puffing up. “you don’t see me offended that you’re gonna eat a bird for breakfast!”  
  
  
“you’re the one who caught them as well!” seungmin bickered with jisung. “and i had to watch you catch the first one because you didn’t tell me what you were hunting!”  
  
“yeah, cause catching a rabbit is easy when you have wings and a good sense of stealth!”  
  
  
“don’t even look at me, i was picking flowers.” woojin pipes in quietly kneeling down next to felix, helping him wash flowers.  
  
“let’s just get over this and accept we have to do things we don’t want to so we can survive, okay you two?” changbin rips them apart. “like, you see, i always have to feed cuddles a bunch of rats, jisung’s never offended.”  
  
“this is fucking slander!” jisung yells over the laughs and hollers, and felix comes up behind laughing chan’s frame. he tugs on his hand, and chan jumps, not expecting it but he eases when he sees felix.  
  
“hyung, will you help me make tea?”  
  
“u-uh, yeah, sure felix!” chan wanted to slap himself because of his stutter but smiled at felix taking his hand. _why do i always say yes to you?_  
  
  
  
  
“okay, hyung. don’t feel too uneasy just because everyone else is watching, okay? and don’t feel too hard on yourself either, it’s your first time flying.” felix reassures chan by holding his hand, and chan licks and bites his lips out of nervousness. he nods to him, just to let him know he’s still there despite his anxiety.  
  
“first, can you open your wings wide open for me?”  
  
chan’s eyebrows furrow out of confusion, “why?”  
  
“so i can just see what rate you should flap your wings at while flying.” chan still feeling confused, felix explained further. “you see, like, woojin and seungmin have smaller bodies and smaller wings right? so they have to flap their wings a lot to have momentum while flying. i have a pretty small body but really large wings -”  
  
“you know you don’t have to flex while teaching chan hyung, right?” seungmin pipes in, cutting off felix and everyone laughs. felix rolls his eyes but chan is trying his best to not focus on them.  
  
“i’m not flexing, hyung, anyways. because of that, i just glide really and i don’t flap my wings often. your body and size of wings just affect what way you fly.”  
  
chan nods, his confusion subsiding and he opens them, extending them to how far he can. he looks at them and feels weird, it’s still unusual to see and feel this new pressure on his back. well, he’s always had the pressure of wanting to be free growing up but that wasn’t exactly physical.  
  
felix hums, inspecting them. “considering you’re fit, but the same height as me, you probably have more pounds of muscle than me.. but for a bird, your wings are impressive. they’re almost as big as mine.”  
  
“so, uh, how much do i have to flap them?”  
  
“i’d say at a moderate amount. you don’t have to flap them as much as seungmin or woojin have to, but more than me. maybe somewhere around jisung’s rate? so in the middle.” chan nods and hums.  
  
“the first thing we’re going to do is get you comfortable with moving your wings around before we actually get you to fly. so just flap and move them around for a bit, there’s no correct way of just moving them.”  
  
he listens and starts moving the new pressure around, back and forth and pulling them to cover his body. he giggles at one of the feathers touching his face. he nods at a softly smiling felix, and he says, “okay, now just try flapping them.”  
  
he does and he’s surprised at what rate he’s getting more comfortable with his wings. they still feel a tang awkward, but it’s getting better. “now, try getting off the ground the best you can, and it’s okay if you don’t get it right the first time.”  
  
“can you, uh, show me first?” chan asks meekly. his smile doesn’t fade away as he nods, and then he jumps and flaps his wings and starts flying, his body going horizontally and he flies a circle around chan, only flapping his wings once or twice and chan keeps his eye on him. felix starts flying down, flapping his wings while turning his body vertically. his feet reach the ground. “just like that.”  
  
“so you just, jump and flap your wings with more force, right..?”  
  
“yeah, don’t forget to turn your body horizontally. you’ll fall if you keep your feet pointing at the ground.” he reminds him and chan nods, backing away a little. he takes a breath, before jumping and flapping his wings with more force. he laughs a little when his body starts flying, before yelping as he falls to the ground.  
  
“channie hyung,” felix says, giving him a hand to get up. “you forgot to turn your body horizontally as i told you to. don’t give up, hyung! you’ll do just fine.”  
  
he wipes off the dirt he got on himself, blushing red from embarrassment. he nods again and attempts to fly again. he jumps, mid flapping his wings turns his body and again, he laughs a little when he feels his body in the air but yells “fuck!” when he falls down.  
  
“son of a bitch,” he mumbles as he gets up again. felix gives his shoulder a rub, “you turned your body too early. jump, flap, turn, okay? and i’ll tell you when to flap. try doing a couple of circles for now.”  
  
his neck is turning red now too, and he nods, sighing. puffing his face, he tries again. he focuses as much as he can, and he jumps, flaps his wings with force, and turns his body. he smiles, knowing he finally fucking got it. his embarrassment washes away, and he can hear hollers and cheer coming from stray kids from below under felix’s shouts of “flap! flap! flap!”  
  
eventually, felix stops telling him when to flap his wings and chan smiles, getting when he has to flap his wings. he’s surprised at how natural it’s becoming to fly, the new pressure feeling more comfortable now. he does a couple of circles without felix’s instructions and then, he aims down. flapping his wings as his feet reach the ground, he’s engulfed in a hug by felix and the rest run up to him, wrapping themselves around him. he laughs at the warmth he’s receiving, feeling rewarded.  
  
they pull away, but woojin ruffles his hair, smiling. “welcome to the wing team!”  
  
“honestly just because y’all outnumber us doesn’t mean it’s a bragging right.” minho says, crossing his arms.  
  
“we outnumbered you before hyunjin came and made it even,” jisung barks. “don’t get too cocky hyung! you guys even outnumbered us when we still thought chan hyung was a human!”  
  
minho sticks his tongue out to jisung to mock him, and jisung sticks his out too. woojin breaks in, “kids, instead of bickering, why don’t we just celebrate chan’s general presence in stray kids and the fact he learned how to fly so quickly?”  
  
they both grumbled but agreed. chan smiled as felix back hugged him tightly, his arms reaching around chan as his chest is pressed up against his back, and he rests his chin on chan’s shoulder. chan blushes a little bit, but lifts up his hand to ruffle felix’s hair a little bit. “good job hyung!” felix cooes. “i’m guessing it came a bit natural to you, so i think teaching you our language will also come naturally.”

“yeah, i already told you guys that i remember your guys’ language sounding familiar.” chan said, his lips pouting and he put his hands over felix’s. he tried his best to not feel that embarrassed or red with his close proximity with felix. “so i guess it won’t be too hard to figure out once i listen to it enough..”  
  
“you’ll do great, hyung,” felix reassures, pulling away. everyone was back in the cave, and they follow them back. most of them were sitting down on their blankets, only woojin standing up. he gestured for felix and chan to sit down as well, so they do.

 

 

“alright, so now that chan knows how to fly - maybe it’s time to talk more about this situation.” woojin says, clasping his hands together and everyone hums in agreement.

“well, from what we’ve seen so far hyung, chan’s been dealing with this situation pretty well.” jisung voices, sitting next to minho. “he’s learned how to fly really quickly and he’s grown accustomed to his wings fast.”

“good point sung-ah, but i think i’d let chan say what he thinks about being a halfblood.”

chan gets up, averting his eyes from everyone’s stares, he feels nervous when people look at him. “i.. i don’t know how i exactly feel yet. i’m not that glad that i’m a halfblood, because it insinuates that my parents had an even unhappier marriage than i intentionally thought. but these wings are pretty cool, and although i haven’t flown a lot, flying is pretty cool too. overall, i don’t know how i feel exactly but i’ll try my best to make the most out of this.”

“it’s okay if you don’t know how to feel, hyung.” minho suggested, “it hasn’t even been a full day. you can take your time figuring out how you feel.”

chan had a small, appreciative smile on his face. “thank you, minho-ah.”

minho smiled back before woojin said, “he’s right, chan. you’ve done so well with dealing with this so far, and we’ll help you figure out our language and if you ever want to find out why you’re an alicanto halfblood, we’ll help you with that too.”

he would never admit in a million years, but he got emotional and a bit choked up. as a teenager, he always wanted a group of friends, a family that would support him endlessly and help him through troubling times. he had to stop the pooling tears settling in his eyes.

“thank you guys, so much.” chan grinned. they returned it with the same spark of fondness, _is what family feels like? because if this is my chosen family, i wouldn’t have chosen anyone else._

  


(“should i get felix a necklace?” chan says to minho when they're out, alone picking flowers for tea. minho takes a double take before blurting out a confused “what?”

“you heard me.”

“hyung, you’re asking me if you should get felix a necklace?” minho laughs out of pure confusion, his eyebrows furrowed. “are you sure you're not boyfriends?”

“like you’ve never given a friend a necklace before!” chan waves his hands around in an over dramatic fashion, but he honestly could care less.

“yeah when i was six years old, in my foster home! and they were fuckin’ friendship necklaces!” minho curtly replies back, crossing his arms. “i’ve never given a boy a necklace after that & thought in my head _oh wow, this is totally platonic and in a completely non i-want-to-suck-your-dick way_!”

“just because you’ve given your crushes necklaces because you were hella horny doesn't mean i can't give felix one out of platonic love!” chan bickers back. “...can i?”

“no, no you can't. what did you even want to give him, anyway? besides the best dicking down of his life?”

“shut up! besides well, i was thinking i could get one necklace with a dragon wing and another with a bird wing, right?” chan scratches the back of his neck. “and i was gonna give him the bird wing, and keep the dragon wing for myself.. so we always have reminders of each other, even when it’s tough.”

minho stares at chan with a face of disbelief for a pure 10 seconds before he yells out, “holy fucking shit, i’m gonna lose it - that's so fucking gay!”

“no it’s not!” chan laughs out of pure disbelief.

“what - in _what_ world do you live in where that's _not_ gay as hell? “yo bro i got you this necklace so you can always be reminded of me, bro” like - just, fuck - stop talking to me!”

“stop talking to you?!”

“this conversation is over!” minho turns his back to chan, waving the bag of freshly picked flowers around. “call me back when you realize you’re gay and want felix to suck your dick!”

“can you stop talking about my dick and felix’s mouth in the same sentence?!”

“once you stop thinking your feelings towards felix are straight!”)

  


 

“channie, can you pass me the bowl?” woojin says, focusing on preparing today’s lunch. stray kids are still staying in the cave unfortunately, woojin and changbin not being exactly sure where to head to next. it’s fine though, they’re spending their days relaxing.

right as chan was reaching for the bowl woojin was referring to, jisung walks in with a happy expression, feathery wings doing small flaps. “chan hyung, let’s go on a round flying with felix!”

“uh, thanks for the offer jisung but i’m kinda helping woojin hyung with lunch right now.” chan shrugs his shoulders, handing the bowl to his hyung. “sorry, man.”

“why not, hyung?” felix says, walking into the cave right after jisung, putting his arm around jisung. “it’ll be fun! woojin hyung, can you please let channie go with us? it’ll be good practice for him!”

woojin rolled his eyes and sighed. “fine, you kids can go ahead. chan was only here mostly to just pass me stuff, go ahead chan.”

chan beamed, wings flapping a little from excitement. “thank you hyung!”

“yeah, yeah just go ahead.” woojin smiled and before chan could thank him once again, felix was already grabbing a hold of his hand and dragged him out of the cave with a laughing jisung. chan giggled because of felix’s enthusiasm, and the sun tickling his skin, hitting him with a warm wave. he scanned his eyes around and saw seungmin and jeongin talking under the shade of a tree.

“hey seungmin, wanna join us?” chan asks with a honey tone, letting go of felix’s hand. “we’re gonna go flying a bit.”

“pass.” he says simply, stretching his arms.

“why?”

“eh, just don’t like flying all that much. it takes up a lot of my energy, woojin hyung doesn’t like it either.” seungmin says distantly. “i only fly when it’s absolutely necessary, i can’t exactly fly for fun like you three can.”

“ah, okay seungminnie. i didn’t know that, sorry.” chan says, scratching his neck while jisung and felix go ahead.

“it’s fine, hyung. go have your fun!” seungmin smiles with friendliness laced in it, and he nods. chan goes up ahead to jisung and felix. they both give him an encouraging nod.

“since you’re bit of a beginner, it’s better for you to get a running start. and when we’re in the air, just follow us, okay?” jisung gives chan’s hand a quick squeeze, and he nods.

“okay.”

jisung and felix both jump and give their wings a strong swing before going up in the air, flying. chan licks his lips out of nervousness, before taking a running charge and a leap, fluttering his wings and he feels his body changes in the air. he aims up, towards the sky way above the ground where the two younger winged half bloods are. he flies right next to jisung.

“so, where are we going?” he asks, curiosity lacing his voice.

“jisung and i found some nice locations last night.” felix states, giving another strong swing of his giant wings, a huge wave of wind following it and even chan felt it. “you’ll love it, hyung, don’t worry!”

“who said i’m worrying?” chan laughs, raising an eyebrow before jisung groans audibly.

“i hate being in the middle of two lovebirds,” jisung fusses. “you guys are so gross.”

felix protests, “well now you know how it feels to be with you when minho hyung is in a five mile radius!”

“fuck off,” jisung blushes a little bit, still making an even bigger fuss and his yellow eyes seemed to have a shadow casted over them as he furrowed his eyebrows. “i’m gonna lead, you know where we’re going anyway, lix.”

jisung flies ahead a noticeable meter or two, his orange aura following with. felix looks at him with a confused expression while chan just laughs breathily, felix moves to next to chan and looks at chan with the same expression. “what’s with him?”

“probably just embarrassed we mentioned him and minho.” he shrugs. “it’s true though, they’re the real lovebirds here.” chan announces the last part just loud enough for jisung to hear, and jisung puffs his cheeks.

felix laughs. “yeah, we’re not even dating!”

chan laughs it off, but a tiny bit of his spirit crushes. he brushes it off like dust, or at least tries to - before jisung declares ahead of them, “we’re here, losers.” jisung dives down and felix does so, but chan wasn’t expecting it so he lags behind. but nonetheless, he dives to the ground. chan gives a few forceful whips of his wings before his feet touch the ground.

“where are we?” chan looks around with a confused expression, felix taking his hand and giving it a squeeze. jisung states, “oh, don’t worry. we’re just west of farstar, it’s a village. it’s mostly dryads and half dryads, some humans too. they’re pretty nice as long as you don’t steal from them.”

“you know what i think i should be, uh sorta offended you assumed i would steal from dryads but i think it’s clouded by my confusion.”

“hey, hyung don’t blame me,” jisung raises his hands up in defense. “you thought you were a human for 21 years of your life. you have no idea how bad dryads can be, i mean they kicked out binnie hyung for just being himself.”

“that was 100 years ago though, hyung. there’s a big chance they’ve changed since then, and that doesn’t mean all dryads are like that.” the ice dragon argues with the ibong adarna, while chan chooses to shut it out so he can take in his surroundings.

they’re similar to the opening in the forest in which chan met stray kids months ago. but instead of oak trees, it’s a birch wood forest and ahead layed a hill. there are various different flowers littering the hillside, daisies and violets scattering around the entire side. as chan saw, there were even wild strawberries and strawberry flowers across the violets. chan moves closer to one of the strawberries before felix slaps his hand away.

“ow, what the hell was that for?” chan whines, rubbing the red spot on his hand.

“did you listen to a word we said?” felix exclaims, “don’t steal from the dryads. this forest is farstar’s, and you can’t take a single thing they own. not even a flower or a leaf.”

“well, i didn’t know this forest was theirs!” chan bickers back.

“like they would care that you didn’t know.” felix tsks. “it’s like going into an ice biome where you’re absolutely aware ice dragons are there, and you see like a coin on the ground, pick it up and expect the dragons to not get angry. and believe me, it’s bad when you cross a dryad but you don’t even want to think about crossing an ice dragon.”

chan laughs a little bit in surprise, “that really makes me scared of ever pissing you off.”

felix’s mouth slacks a little bit before he closes it shut, crosses his arms and blushes a little bit under his icy aura, muttering “well, that goes for ice dragons that are protecting something..”  
  
“while you guys were bickering,” jisung shouts near the top of the hill. “i was climbing up here.”

chan and felix both jolt and searched for jisung, and jisung just sighs, audibly while pinching the bridge of his nose. “whatever! i’m gonna go, i can’t stand being the third wheel to you two. i’m gonna go hang out with minho hyung, and if woojin hyung asks, just know i’m going to say you two are making out.”

jisung proclaims before flying off, and chan watches him. he shrugs his shoulders before looking at felix and saying, “let’s just go sit down somewhere.”

felix hums before pointing at a tree and chan nods, following him. they sit down under the shade and felix sighs, closing his eyes. “hmm, your flying is pretty good. you’re a natural, channie.”

chan smiles softly and looking at felix’s relaxed, smiling face he feels some type of gold itching at his chest. some type of warmth that isn’t exactly from the sun above since they’re in the shade. he doesn’t know why but he feels like this all the time, whenever he’s around. it’s so fucking dumb.

“maybe we should start on that language then?” chan suggests and felix opens his eyes, staring back at chan with a smiling expression. “yeah, good idea!”

“let’s start with introductions. _hello._ ” felix says simply and it clicks in chan’s head.

“ _hello, i’m prince bang chan._ ” chan smirks and wiggles his eyebrows at felix’s surprised expression, following with his boyish giggle.

“ _prince bang chan? i’m lee felix, i’ve heard lots about you._ ” felix giggles some more as he leans in and chan plays along. “ _oh? and what might that be?_ ”

“ _oh, they just talk about how amazing and handsome you are.._ ” felix trails off, a smile still etching it’s way on his face. “ _but some say you’re quite a playboy, is that true?_ ”

“ _now the amazing and handsome part is subjective, but i’m not a playboy, lee._ ”

“ _i think i’ll decide that one for myself, bang._ ”

chan bubbles with laughter, breaking character. “that was ridiculous. i’m not even a prince anymore.”

“you still look like one, though. fuckin’ prince charming.” felix teases and chan’s pale cheeks turn rose, tugging on his hand but he leaves it there.

under the shade of a birch tree, and chan talks about his days at the palace with his siblings while felix talks about his days spent being ridiculed by his older siblings for being too soft. they talk some more in half-blood language, before they noticed the skies were starting to get painted with orange hues.

in the air, they still continue talking and laughing as felix does tricks in the air he learned from jisung, like airdiving and doing spins. felix suggests for chan to try doing a spin which is, in hindsight, an incredibly bad idea.

because once he does, he falls.

felix shouts in surprise and chan shouts even harder as his body goes into a weightless state and he panics, calling for felix. with only a few seconds of adrenaline and turmoil, chan gets picked up by felix and his shouting stops.

“oh my god.” chan whispers, his voice cracking. felix looks down and shakes his head, looking back up. “why i was so dumb? i shouldn’t have told you to do that.”  
  
“it’s okay lix, i shouldn’t have listened to you that time."

“fucking finally you guys are back!” woojin exclaims, grabbing felix and chan and pulling them in. before they could even ask why everyone was packed and looked like they were ready to leave, including chan’s and felix’s packed bags sitting on the floor, woojin says, “i know, i know, i’ll explain.”

they nod before woojin continues, “we’ve been here for a couple of days already and although it’s quite a nice location, we have to leave. changbin found a camp nearby that isn’t ours and we think they might be after you, chan. so we’re going to a city and stay there in a hotel or something for a couple of days. now, grab your bags and let’s go.”

  
  
  


an hour or two later, they arrive to one of the biggest cities chan has ever seen aside from the kingdom he was disgraced from. they walk through and chan smiles at finally getting what he wanted to get felix for quite a while, so he beams and bumps his elbow at minho.

“ow - what do yo - oh, okay.” chan points at something and minho understands, smirking. “i’ll cover for you, loverboy.”

 

 

 

 

“channie, let’s go on a walk.” felix whines later that night in their shared bedroom and chan laughs.

“okay, you go ahead. i just gotta grab something.” felix nodded and went outside, his hands in his pockets. chan licked his lips out of nervousness and grabbed the two necklaces, his thumb brushing over the dragon wing. _why are you so nervous, chris..? you’re not going to propose to him.. you're just giving him a necklace. stay cool._

chan takes a deep breath, he grabs his jacket and heads outside. felix waits for him, and chan smiles, taking his hand. “let’s go, yeah?”

felix smiles warmly back, “yeah.”

once they head outside, the moonlight shines onto them. it illuminates chan’s pale skin and felix’s golden skin, and a little sigh escapes past his lips. he feels more comfortable when it’s night time, for whatever reason - it just feels right when it’s dark out. his free hand ghosts over the two necklaces in his pocket, but he chooses to ignore it for now. felix hums, “so, how do you think you’re getting all that ancient language stuff..?”

“ _i’m actually doing pretty well,_ ” chan replies back. felix laughs, swaying their intertwined hands. “ _oh really now?_ ”

 

“ _yeah, i think so._ ” chan’s gaze falls onto the moon. “ _considering my brain is wired to speak it, yeah. i’m doing well, but i still have a bit of an accent. that’ll fade over time, won't it?_ ”

“ _it will don't worry._ ” felix bubbles. “that was good channie hyung! you're doing great so far, i think your accent is the only thing noticeable.”

“really? thanks, felix.” chan’s eyebrows raise a little bit, but he smiles in relief.  “i think i’m doing pretty okay with the whole half-blood thing in general, to be honest.”

“you are. considering you were thrown into it suddenly and you don't even know how you’re an alicanto, i’d say you’re coping with this whole situation quite swimmingly.”

“thank you, felix. it means a lot.”

after a few seconds of comfortable silence, and chan gazing at felix wondering whether to not to mention the necklaces, just as he was about to open his mouth, felix snickers and says, “did you see the trick jeongin did on minho hyung?”

“hmm? minho?” chan purses his lips, biting his tongue about the necklaces. “no i don't think so, it’s quite bold of him to go after minho, isn't it?”

“yeah,” felix laughs more. “it’s funnier the more i think about it. jisung hyung and minho hyung were just doing their thing, the usual denying that they're a couple but totally flirting thing, right?”

“yeah?” _sorta appropriate for the pose we’re in since we’re not dating but yanno.. just platonically holding hands on a walk under the moonlight. that’s not romantic, is it, lix?_

“yeah, and jeongin was like, 5 miles away from them -” for reasons known but won't admit, chan accidentally drowns out everything he’s saying because of his gaze on felix. he looks around his face, staring at his cheeks littered with constellations, his black hair blending in with the dark night sky, then his brown eyes that remind him of woods, home and growth, and then his eyes travel right down to his lips. he stares at them for a few seconds before they shoot right back to felix’s eyes. he was bubbling with giggles. “minho hyung was so mad, he threatened to rip jeongin’s head. it was so funny channie hyung, you should’ve seen it.”

chan laughs a little bit before he turns his gaze away and his free hand dives into his pocket. felix somehow notices the shift in him, and a small “chan..?” leave past his lips.

“hey, so uhm..” he fishes out the necklaces and his other, warm hand leaves felix’s so he can untangle the two necklaces. “i was planning on giving you this necklace.. uh.. it’s a bird wing. the other one is a dragon wing, uhm.. you get the bird one, i get the dragon one, you know… so we always have reminders of each other? i don't know, that’s probably too cheesy.”

once he untangles the necklaces, he stops and so does felix. he grabs felix’s hand softly, and opens his palm, dropping the white bird wing necklace on it. felix’s lips form a little ‘o’ as he brings it up to inspect it as much as he can in the darkness, and suddenly from him erupt a fit of happy little giggles.

“what are we, exactly..?” felix laughs, playing with the necklace. “are we dating?”  
  
he felt embarrassed, scratching the back of his neck. it was so dark, but he prayed to whatever deity that possibly exists out there that felix wouldn't see his red cheeks. “do you want us to be?”  
  
“i wouldn’t mind that, at all.” felix smiled softly, grabbing chan’s hand. he smiled too, liking felix’s warmth in back into chan’s. chan cooed, “okay, are you my boyfriend then?”  
  
felix giggled, “yeah, i guess so. and i’m guessing you are my boyfriend too?”  
  
“oh, really now?” chan smiled, pulling felix in. felix giggled even more as chan left the warmth in his hands and instead wrapped them around felix, and he wraps his arms around chan’s neck. chan wastes no time diving deep into felix’s lips, catching him by surprise but he follows chan’s flow. felix rests his hands on his chest and chan cups his cheeks. chan pulls on his bottom lip and he kisses his cheek, felix giggles.

he wraps his arms around chan’s neck again and chan snakes his arms around felix’s legs, encouraging him to jump and wrap his legs around chan’s waist. felix does so and chan smiles softly, kissing felix’s jawline. he bubbles with laughter, “channie, it tickles!”

chan laughs, lifting his head up. he goes to kiss behind felix’s ear, and he laughs when felix’s gigantic wings start doing little flaps. “what is that?”

“ugh, shut up,” felix bubbles, poking chan’s dimple. “they just move on their own when i’m really happy.”

“oh, so you’re really happy that you’re my boyfriend now?” chan teases and felix laughs out of embarrassment, cheeks glowing with a rose tint and he pinches chan’s cheek. “who wouldn’t be happy to be with the closest thing to perfection?”

chan’s feathery wings start to do little flaps as well and he tries to bite back his laughter, but fails miserably, burying his laughter in felix’s neck. “i guess i’m happy i’m with the cutest dragon on the planet, aren’t i?”

“are you? i can’t answer that, but i think your wings give some idea.” chan lifts his head up again and felix buries himself in chan’s neck, trying to be as close as he possibly can to him. although no one was surprised when they announced they were dating the next morning, chan could care any less. because now, he can finally feel freedom on his tongue.  
  


  
“guys! guys!” jisung comes out of his room with such enthusiasm and happiness in his eyes, enough for everyone in stray kids. a proud looking minho follows behind. “everyone, please come out here! i have something important! especially hyunjin!”  
  
one by one, they all came out of their rooms with confused expressions. seungmin is the first to ask, “what’s going on, jisung?”  
  
“i finally created a spell that might just be powerful enough to turn hyunjin back into a nymph!” jisung cheered, excessive use of his hands and entire body to show just how happy he was. hyunjin’s jaw dropped, and the rest wore happy, shocked smiles and started to cheer.  
  
“hyunjin, come on over!”  
  
hyunjin nodded, still in shock. in close enough proximity, jisung laid his hand on hyunjin’s shoulder and closed his eyes, hyunjin did too. chan saw major courses of energy flow through hyunjin’s body, giving him an unknown glow. his ears and numbed down claws slowly started to disappear, and a white-silverish glow started to appear around his entire body.  
  
jisung took his hand away and gasped for air. hyunjin slowly opened his eyes and looked down at his hands, tears pooling in his eyes when he didn't see his dark claws on them anymore. he lifted his hands up to his head and felt no round ears. hyunjin’s cheeks were flooded with happy tears and he engulfed jisung in a bone-crushing hug while everyone in the cabin cheered. hyunjin sobbed into jisung’s shoulder, whispering thank yous over and over again. jisung wore a bright smile and hugged him back just as hard.  
  
chan whispered with a hint of excitement in his tone to felix, “i’ve never seen a true nymph before.”  
  
“they’re beautiful.” felix grinned, holding pieces of the sun in his smile. but chan seeing the chance, whispered back, “not as beautiful as you, though.”

“that's disgustingly sweet, hyung.” felix adds, blushing with a hint of a giggle at the end.  
  
“group hug!” woojin yelled over the claps and everyone almost immediately went in for a hug, wrapping their arms around each other.

“hyunjinnie, don't cry! you’re a beautiful nymph once again!” chan excitedly says while jisung brushes away hyunjin’s tears flowing down his cheeks.

“i’m crying from - i’m crying from happiness, hyung…” hyunjin stuttered, cupping his own face in his hands. “i couldn't handle being a bear anymore.. god, i’m so happy.”

“we share our happiness with you, hyung!” jisung hollers when they all pull away from hyunjin, and hyunjin’s tears stop flowing when he smiles wide. he mutters under all of the hollers and clapping, “the best family..”

he thinks hyunjin didn't want anyone to hear him, but chan did. chan grinned widely and teased hyunjin, putting his arm around his shoulder, “what was that, hyunjinnie? what are we?”

“i said, stray kids are the best family.” hyunjin laughs and everyone awws, while chan just smiles and pulls him closer. _i couldn’t agree with you more, hyunjin._

 

 

 

days went by quickly, and chan couldn't have it any other way.

because what he is experiencing right now is called freedom. travelling wherever and whenever with stray kids, holding his boyfriend’s hand, flying in the sky, resting in stars and taking baths in lakes - this is living in chan’s eyes. the universe has blessed him with pieces of light and sun, and he couldn't feel any more euphoric. he lived in a cage for his entire life, but these last few months of finally living happily have been well welcomed and well deserved.

bang chan, former prince of the kingdom of felicity, was starting to live after twenty-one years of being on this planet.

until, it stopped.

on a dusty afternoon, chan was walking along with stray kids, laughing, enjoying banter and his boyfriend’s company. he had interlocked fingers with felix as they were heading to another town called greycove and in typical cliches, nothing was really off. everything and everyone was normal - from jeongin’s usual tricks, woojin’s lecturing the younger ones of the group all the way down to minho’s and jisung’s shameless no homo flirting.

felix simply told chan, “i’m going to go see something at the front, i’ll be back quick.”

“okay.” chan lightly smiled at his boyfriend and he let go of his hand, although he was already missing the warmth that was present in his palm just seconds before.

a few seconds after he left, a hand clasped over his mouth. initially, he thought that jeongin was just being a brat and teleported to the back to mess with chan, so he wanted to just roll his eyes. but then he realized that this hand was much rougher in feeling and bigger - but it was a second too late. because the next second he knew, he was being yanked back with another pair of forceful, rough hands.

right before his vision went pitch black, all he heard was felix saying a faint, frantic, “guys, where is channie hyung?!”

  
  
  


he wakes up in a dirty, cold cave with a throbbing headache and tied together hands. he coughs, and a few droplets of blood drip down his chin, as he tries to get up. his arms are yanked back by familiar rough hands and chan yelps.

the droplets of blood drip down to his shirt, already torn at some places and he coughs some more blood as he gets on his knees. then, appears a stocky man tsking, placing his fingers along chan’s cheekbone. chan hisses with what energy he has, “get off me, i have a boyfriend.”

he notices another figure, presumably the other pair of hands that yanked him back. the man that just touched him backs away, laughing. “pretty alicanto, what’s your name?”  
  
“i won’t tell you my name,” chan croaks out. “better get used to calling me ali.”

“you can call us boss then.” the other man smirks, and chan almost wants to throw up. either from disgust or sickness, he doesn’t know yet.

“i refuse to.” chan fake smiles with what little he’s got, and the other man puts his hand under chan’s chin. chan feels like a dog when he goes to bite the hand but the man pulls away. the man crouches down to chan’s level and chan never felt the urge to murder someone before, but you learn something new about yourself every day, no?

“why don’t you show us where the silver and gold is, sweet little ali?”

“first of all, don’t call me sweet or little. i still have a boyfriend, you sick fucks.” chan barks, “and no, i will not. i refuse to, i will never show you where it is. i don’t reward sick, greedy bastards like you two.”

\- - - 

that’s what he says before he gets sucker punched in the face, even more blood falls down from chan’s lips but he doesn’t care. it hurts, but he doesn’t care. “how about now?”

“never.” he smells a strong scent of iron from the blood dripping from his mouth, and he gets kicked in the stomach and another punch lands on his face, already starting to bruise. he shakes his head as more blood drips down his chin to his shirt. he can feel how his a part of his cheek ripped open and the cool blood oozing out.

\- - -

“i’m still not going to help you,” he chokes out as he falls to the ground again, an audible ‘thud’ following suit. “i will never help you.”

they both smile with a wicked tone. the first man says, “oh don’t worry, ali. we’ll just wait.”

“for what?”

they just smile before they leave his field of vision and he whispers to himself, “motherfuckers.”

he feels uncomfortable laying on the ground with his hands tied, especially with all of his bruising, the light layer of sweat coating his skin and the blood that started to stain his skin as well. as he tries to get used to the cold cave floor, all he thinks about is felix. yeah, they’ve only been dating for a month or so but he’s been with stray kids for months now, and he’s probably had a little crush on felix since day 1.

tears fall on the side of his face and drip onto the floor as he thinks about that frantic “guys, where is channie hyung?!” he heard before he blacked out. he doesn’t know what day it is or how much time has even passed, but he knows that felix along with the rest of stray kids, is worried sick. it breaks his heart in absolute bits when he thinks about the fact felix is probably crying his eyes out, worried and anxious about chan’s whereabouts.

tears keep leaving the pool in chan’s eyes because he can’t help it - he knows minho or jisung, or everyone really is comforting felix right now but he wants to be the one to comfort felix. actually, he doesn’t even want felix to be worried.

despite his heartbreaking thoughts, there’s one thing that stops them. hunger.

again, he gets that third person feeling again. glowing eyes, muttering, “hungry.”

the first stocky man appears in his field of vision with a sick smile, “what was that ali?”

chan repeats again, louder and raspier. “hungry... gold.”

the two stocky men help chan up on his legs but they don’t untie his hands, instead just remaining silent as chan turns his back to them, eyes completely glowing as he charges down the cave. he searches, sniffs and looks around in a wild haze for any single trace of gold or silver. not long before he finds it, but just as he was about to attempt to scratch at it, one of the men yank him by the wings, plucking a good chunk of them out.

“where do you think you’re going, ali?”

chan shouts as more tears spring from his eyes, and now he’s frantically shouting in a mad trance, “hungry! hungry..! felix! _felix_!”

“that’s probably his fag boyfriend of his,” the second man mutters to the first, pulling him and dragging him away while chan is still shouting felix’s name desperately.

\- - - 

“shut up,” the man says before pushing him down on the ground and chan hits his temple, cutting it open. he starts going in between states of consciousness and unconsciousness, still muttering felix’s name as all he sees are flashes of the two men going back and forth.

\- - - 

black. complete, pitch black and chan thinks this is it, he’s never going to see any of the stray kids ever again. he’s never going to see old chimaera changbin and his snake, father-like woojin, olive skinned minho who can control eclipses and earthquakes, and his oversized chicken of a boyfriend jisung. he’s never going to see mischievous jeongin, or uninterested seungmin, not even ethereal hyunjin.

but most importantly, he’s never going to see felix ever again. the boy with an icy aura but who made his heart melt into a puddle, the timid boy made of constellations on his cheeks and shaky breaths. the boy with a bird wing necklace adorned around his neck.

and that made him snap.

“ _felix!_ ” he shouts one last time, catching the two stocky men by surprise as he rips apart the rope tying his hands together. he watches as his own completely white eyes entrance the two men, and they grab the nearest thing they could find, and with a glow in their eyes, they stab themselves. _greedy bastards._

chan doesn’t wait to watch the blood ooze because an unknown energy courses right through his entire body, and he feels how his surroundings change, and he feels sleepy again. he hears gasps and a chorus of “chan!”s before he blacks out again and falls to the ground.

  
  


he wakes up in a bed with soft blankets surrounding him, and he flutters his eyes open slowly and feels another body right next to his. another chorus of gasps, and the only thing on his mind is, “felix..?”

“i’m here,” felix blubbers with waterfalls streaming down his face, “i’m - i’m here channie..” chan wraps his arms around felix.

he looks around to a room filled with melancholy but sweet relief, as smiles grew on their faces but their eyebrows were furrowed. jisung stands right by his bed and sighs, “whoever took you beat you up really bad, hyung.. i did what i could.”

“thank you, sung-ah.” chan croaks out with a small smile on his face, and at the very upset felix woojin nods at them and one by one, they all leave the room, leaving felix and chan alone.

“channie,” felix sobbed, tears flowing down and wetting his cheeks. his entire body was even colder than usual from crying. “they plucked out.. they plucked out your f-feathers…”

felix hiccups, almost choking on his own tears. chan looks at his own wings, and they did pluck some of the feathers out, some places of it hit with more damage than others. chan sighs at the flickering glow in his damaged wings, brushing away felix’s tears. “they’ll regrow, lix. or i can ask jisung to cast a healing spell or a regrowth spell.. it’s not that bad, don’t worry.”

felix just whimpers even more, burying his head in chan’s neck. his cold tears stain the torn up, dirty and blood soaked shirt even more, and chan can’t help let loose some of the tears pooling in his eyes. “hey, hey felix, look at me, okay?”

chan lifts felix’s chin up, felix hiccuping from crying. chan whispers, “this is the price i pay for freedom, but felix, freedom gave me _you_. and with that alone, i would do this a million times, back and forth. because i love you, i am in love with you, and i forever will be.”

felix stops his hiccuping and sobbing, but tears still flow calmly down his cheeks, rolling off his chin. chan, smiling a little bit, cups felix’s right cheek. felix’s hand clasps over chan’s and his other hand lightly grabs chan’s wrist.

chan lifts up the dragon wing necklace, he continues, “felix, when i was starving, dehydrated, bruised and bloody in the hands of those greedy men -” felix’s breath hitched. “you gave me hope. that i would return to you one day, that i should keep on fighting, keep on breathing and living because i knew, somewhere out there, you were crying, missing me. i had hope because i wanted to return just so i could stop your tears.”

felix whimpers and chan smiles softly, “lee felix, you are my freedom. i love you.”

for the first time, chan sees felix smile softly. “bang chan, you are my love. i love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> my twt is bangpeach, & although i don't use it often my curious cat is also bangpeach! go scream at me uwu
> 
>  
> 
> also pls tell me if something feels missing or if i didn't mark a violent scene since i'm tired & i didn't write this in chronologic order so something might be missing iajdoasp


End file.
